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Last ditch effort

08-16-2010, 08:38 PM

Just wondering when do you guys call cabling a lost cause. What is your last ditch effort, I seem to bounce back and forth between spades/auger/half cutters. So what is that thing in your tool box where if it doesn't go through the blockage, you give and go to plan B. Leave out jetters and backhoes

When a small blade comes back polished. Or after feeding the cable with a small blade forward many feet with much trouble. Usually the blade and cable come back polished from that also. If I pull back sand or dirt in some of the crevices of the cutter. Pretty much If I put in a hard effort and can't get through something I figure its time for plan B.

Comment

I have a rodding bucket I bring in with me. It has over 24 different types of blades. I carry Eel cutters with the adapters, Pear shaped cutters, a few augers, and a couple different type spear heads. The best tool I found to get a line open with is the Eel's spear head on a spring. It makes them tough turns and will dig its way into the blockage.

The only time I will give up and mention digging to a home owner is when the cutter comes back shined up from digging in gravel, or I bring back clay. In them cases I know the pipe is broken. Other wise I will try to get the line open enough to run a camera down there to see what is going on.

I have followed behind many of drain cleaners that could not get a line open and I have gotten it open with out fail. In some cases I may change from my drum machine to the sectional 1 1/4 cable machine. Each machine has a different approach to getting a bite into the blockage and clearing it. Sometimes I have to use both, go in with the sectional machine, to make a hole , then follow up with the drum machine to tear up what it can then back to the sectional.

Comment

a lot has to do with track record and with questioning the homeowner. just like a dr. will ask the right questions and perform the right test, so will i.

some of the things i look at are the material of the pipe. the type of drain, the track record, the length of time the owners lived there, the age of the line and so on.

but typically a shiny cable with mud is a deal breaker. i can say that 99% of drains i do get open. storm drains/ area drains are the ones that are typically trashed due to out of sight, out of mind. and the fact that typically the material is junk to start with.